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The MBA courses:  Offerings under Course 15

 

In a typical year, I offer four courses as part of Course 15:
 

  • Basic Business Law for the Entrepreneur and Manager  (15.615; fall and spring)
  • Basic Business Law Tilted Towards Strategy and Innovation” (15.616; fall only)
  • Basic Business Law Tilted Towards Finance (15.617; spring only)
  • Law and Cutting-Edge Technologies (15.618; spring only) (Note:  This course was offered for the first time in the Spring, 2012.  That semester, it was listed as 15.649, which was a temporary course number.) 


MIT Sloan does not require MBA students to take a law course – all of my courses are elective.  However, most students do choose to take one.  This site will give you detailed information about each of the courses and some advice about how to pick the one that might be of most interest to you.


Why take a law course?

I think taking a law course at MIT Sloan is a good idea.  During my many years of experience as a practicing lawyer, providing legal counsel to businesses, I have seen that companies and managers regularly confront law-sensitive issues that are crucial to the company’s future and the manager’s career.  Experienced managers bring to these situations an awareness of how law structures opportunities and risks, and enough understanding of law to make good use of professional advice.  My goal in teaching at MIT Sloan is not to turn students into amateur lawyers, but to enhance the judgment you will bring to your responsibilities as entrepreneurs, managers in established companies, and advisors.  


Which law course is best for you?

Each of the “Basic Business Law” offerings (15.615, 15.616, and 15.617) has been designed to provide the broad-gauged, law-related analytic skills and judgment which I think a manager needs.  These 3 courses are intended to be an array of choices, and not a sequence.  The law-related topics of greatest interest to most managers are covered in each of the three. Each course is free-standing, and none is a prerequisite for any of the others.  However, each has also been designed with a distinctive “tilt” which may make it a bit more interesting to students with specific interests. So my suggestion is that you pick just one.   (Occasionally a student has a good reason for taking more than one of these courses.  That can usually be arranged, with the student writing a research paper as an additional requirement for the second course.)


If you are interested in one of the Basic Business Law courses, which one should you pick?  

Here is what makes each of the 3 Basic Business Law courses (15.615, 15.616, and 15.617) a bit distinctive:

  • In 15.615, we pay a bit more attention to the legal aspects of launching a new venture, including the organization and financing of a start-up.
  • In 15.616, we pay a bit more attention to those aspects of the legal environment of business that are shifting the most dramatically.  The particular issues vary from year to year.  For example, in Fall 2012, we will focus on some cutting edge issues in IP, including the expansion of patent litigation;  the legal issues posed by some new technologies such as social media;  and legal aspects of doing business in the BRIC nations.
  • In 15.617, we pay a bit more attention to the legal dimensions of finance, including complex transactions and regulatory regimes.


To whom might Law and Cutting-Edge Technologies appeal?   

This course (15.618) is a little different.  It is a more intensive look at the law-sensitive dimensions of the development and commercialization of cutting-edge technologies.  It is appropriate for a student to take this course whether or not he or she has taken, is taking, or is planning to take one of the three “Basic Business Law” courses.  

In all these courses, I bring in outside lawyers, who are typically top practitioners in their fields, to keep the content fresh and relevant.

All the courses are nine credits.  

There are no prerequisites for any of these courses.  They are all open to students from any department at MIT.  Undergraduates can enroll

Undergraduates are welcome 15.615, 15.616, and 15.617 (only graduate students may enroll in 15.618).  


More information:

Here are links to a recent syllabus for each of the courses:

MIT Sloan > Faculty & Research > John Akula